Farrah Fawcett passport, red swimsuit up for auction in Dallas

U.S. actress Farrah Fawcett (R) is surrounded by photographers as she arrives at Municipal Court to serve jury duty in Beverly Hills on July 6, 2005. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

DALLAS (Reuters) - A driver’s license, film scripts, and a skimpy red swimsuit that once belonged to 1970s icon Farrah Fawcett will go up for auction in Dallas on Friday.

The dozen or so items come from a collection owned by Fawcett’s nephew Greg S. Walls and are expected to fetch tens of thousands of dollars, according to Heritage Auctions.

“Though Farrah Fawcett will forever be associated with the 1970s and that famous, famous hairdo of hers, she remains a beloved, respected instantly recognizable Hollywood star just as much today,” said Margaret Barrett, Heritage director of entertainment and music auctions.

Texas-born Fawcett was one of the best-known celebrities in the United States nearly 40 years ago, thanks to her role in the TV show “Charlie’s Angels” and an iconic poster of her in a red swimsuit that sold millions of copies.

Walls donated the swimsuit Fawcett wore in her famous poster to The Smithsonian a year after she died of cancer in 2009 at age 62. But a red vinyl swimsuit she wore for a 1995 photo spread in Esquire Magazine is among the dozens of items up for sale.

Also up for auction on Friday is a gray wool suit Gene Kelly wore as he danced in a downpour on screen in the 1952 Hollywood hit musical “Singin’ in the Rain”.

As the items go on sale in Dallas, a civil trial is also underway in Los Angeles over ownership of a portrait of Fawcett by celebrated artist Andy Warhol, which could be worth millions of dollars.

The University of Texas, to whom the actress agreed to donate all of her artwork prior to her death, is suing Fawcett’s former partner, actor Ryan O‘Neal, to recover the portrait.

In a Los Angeles courtroom, O‘Neal, 72, testified on Monday that Warhol gave him the painting. The actor also said he took the portrait from Fawcett’s Los Angeles condominium after her death because she was keeping it for him.

The university sued O‘Neal in 2011 after the portrait was seen in an episode of the actor’s short-lived reality television series with daughter Tatum.

O‘Neal, known for his role in 1970 romantic drama “Love Story,” had a relationship with Fawcett from 1979 to 1997 and from 2001 until her death in 2009. Fawcett had her only child, Redmond, with O‘Neal.